1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a front bumper cover and, more particularly, to a front bumper cover including a radiator grille.
2. Description of the Related Art
Bumper covers, which are usually made of plastic, are currently used in virtually all automotive vehicles. The bumper covers are usually one-piece or, if made of several pieces, are divided approximately along a horizontal plane and are reinforced, if necessary, by means of additional components at the edge areas bordering on adjacent parts. These reinforcing parts are either foam parts made of expanded polypropylene or polyurethane, injection molded components, or metal parts which are attached to the cover by various means, such as by clipping, welding, adhesive bonding, screwing, or clamping.
German Patent DE 195 46 478 A1 discloses a bumper cover made of plastic which consists of at least two individual parts joined together along a vertical seam. A large-area joining plate is also provided for connecting the individual parts. The multi-part bumper cover described has the advantage that after a collision it may not always be necessary to replace the entire bumper cover but, instead, individual parts may be reused. A disadvantage of the bumper cover described is that the additional joining plate is required.
In the development of bumpers and bumper covers, more and more stringent requirements for the protection of pedestrians must be observed and met. Within these developments and associated initiatives, radiator grilles have been included in the assembly of the one-piece bumper cover. It is well known that in such one-piece bumper designs, the bumper cover, optionally fitted with additional reinforcing members, always acts as a load-bearing element.
Current design developments show radiator grilles with greatly enlarged dimensions. This is intended to establish an individual appearance for a brand, while also reducing costs compared with multi-sectional radiator grilles which have an upper radiator grille, a badge carrier plate and a lower area inlet grille. There are however some disadvantages. The non-uniformity of outer side parts of the bumper cover compared with the central radiator grille means that connecting bars are necessary, which are covered by a badge area of the radiator grille. In addition, there are large openings in the radiator grille which results in a high proportion of overspray during painting and hence high paint consumption. Moreover, because of their bulky nature fewer one-piece bumper covers can be processed for painting at a time.